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West Nile virus found in Southampton mosquitoes

Mosquito Research in Amherst

Glennon Beresin, an intern working with the Northampton Health Department, retrieves a mosquito trap from a wooded area in Amherst earlier this week. The department has been testing mosquitoes from Northampton, Amherst and Southampton for the West Nile and Eastern equine encephalitis viruses.
(Don Treeger / The Republican)

SOUTHAMPTON – Public health officials announced Thursday that they have found West Nile virus in mosquito samples collected in Southampton. The news comes a day after both West Nile virus and Eastern equine encephalitis were discovered in mosquitoes captured in Northampton and Amherst.

The Northampton Health Department has been gathering the mosquitoes and testing them in Northampton, Amherst and Southampton this summer with a Massachusetts Department of Public Health grant. Adam Kinney, the Public Health Agent for Southampton, said there is no cause for panic.

“The thing is, most places aren’t even doing surveillance,” he said. “It’s been here before. It just hasn’t been detected.”

Both West Nile virus and Eastern equine encephalitis are spread through mosquitoes that feed on birds. Humans can be infected if they are bitten by those same mosquitoes.

In Massachusetts, it is rare for people to contract the diseases. Fewer than 100 cases of Eastern equine encephalitic have been reported in Massachusetts since 1938. There were 67 confirmed reports of West Nile virus among humans in Massachusetts between 2000 and 2010. Six of those people died of the disease.